Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in morning deals, dragged down by heavy losses in IT stocks such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services amid weak cues from US markets. Rising crude oil prices also added to the caution among investors. Traders remained cautious as the data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed India's outward foreign direct investment (FDI) was marginally down at $3.42 billion in January 2026 from $3.44 billion in the same month last year. Sequentially, it was down from $4.07 billion in December 2025. However, losses remain capped as some support came with the Income Tax Department’s latest data showed that net direct tax collection grew 9.40 per cent to Rs 19,43,743.97 crore till February 10, 2026 in the fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26) as compared to Rs 17,76,728.11 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher as traders are now awaiting Friday's US consumer price index report that may shed additional light on the outlook for rates.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83927.47, down by 306.17 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 83795.65 and 84061.62. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.18%, Industrials up by 0.16%, Capital Goods up by 0.09%, Bankex up by 0.04% and Power up by 0.01%, while IT down by 4.14%, TECK down by 2.80%, Realty down by 0.99%, Telecom down by 0.43% and Consumer Discretionary down by 0.42% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.57%, ICICI Bank up by 1.24%, Bharat Electronics up by 0.94%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.88% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.44%, TCS down by 3.76%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.73%, HCL Technologies down by 3.12% and Eternal down by 1.68% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government has projected a total expenditure of Rs 53.47 lakh crore for the next financial year (FY27), marking a 7.7% rise from the current fiscal ending March 31 (FY26). The revised estimate showed that the size of the Budget for FY26 is Rs 49.64 lakh crore, lower from Rs 50.65 lakh crore estimated in February 2025. The Budget for fiscal 2024-25 was at Rs 46.52 lakh crore.
She stated total expenditure for the next fiscal year is projected at Rs 53.47 lakh crore, much more than tax receipts. The government aims for tax receipts of Rs 44.04 lakh crore, 8 per cent higher than the previous year. Further, she stated the government has made the highest-ever allocation of Rs 12.2 lakh crore, which is 3.1 per cent of GDP and 11.5 per cent higher than the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2025-26.
On the advice of state finance ministers, she said capital expenditure loans for 50 years are increased to Rs 2 lakh crore for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI). With this move, she said the effective capital expenditure grows to Rs 17.1 lakh crore, which is 4.4 per cent of the GDP. Besides, according to her, the government is following the fiscal discipline and has forecasted the fiscal deficit at 4.3 per cent of the GDP or Rs 16.95 lakh crore for FY27.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25875.30, down by 78.55 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 25822.30 and 25906.70. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 1.39%, ICICI Bank up by 1.34%, Shriram Finance up by 1.29%, Eicher Motors up by 1.10% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.59%, Wipro down by 4.22%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.15%, TCS down by 4.03% and HCL Technologies down by 3.65% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Nikkei 225 surged 179.46 points or 0.31% to 57,830.00, Shanghai Composite strengthened 5.49 points or 0.13% to 4,137.48, KOSPI increased 112.42 points or 2.1% to 5,466.91 and Straits Times rose 31.19 points or 0.63% to 5,015.77.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite plunged 32.79 points or 0.4% to 8,258.18 and Hang Seng declined 252.38 points or 0.93% to 27,014.00.
